CoffeeHousers' Wall 9 November - 15 November 

Kevyn Bodman

'It was 20 years ago today' that the Berlin Wall came down.
Undoubtedly one of the best good news stories of the second half of the 20th century.

I predict that in 20 years' time the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty will not be viewed with such happiness by the ordinary population.

The EU is not yet the EUSSR, and it is hyperbole to say so.
Nevertheless it is well worth pointing out that very soon there will be a President, and the input, or opinion, of the voters as to who that should be is not required.

Put more indecorously,our leaders regard it as none of our damned business.

Frank P

In accordance with the suggestion that heads this page; perhaps you would be kind enough to post above this picture of Fraser visiting his masters in Whitehall to once again seek instructions on how to deal with the flood of requests, from the Spectator blog commentariat, to address as he promised the issues raised by the Neather revelations.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45407000/jpg/_45407497_frasernelsonsquare.jpg

You will note the sickly grin on his face, but is unclear whether he was entering or leaving the interview.

Nicholas

Protest comment on behalf of all commentators on immigration and EU issues being stereotyped as insane, window-licking, extreme right-wing, ranting, foaming, foam-flecked, aged, racist, Daily Mail reading, Little Englander, tin-foil hat brigade etc., etc.

Blogging "names" who are going to stand on virtual soapboxes or ride hobbyhorses to address the public should not complain about heckling or collect their toys and stomp off to some lefty kindergarten where everyone is terribly "nuanced" and polite and only articulate chummy and correct party thoughts, comrade. In fact the comments are not as intrusive as heckling because the blogger gets to complete his initial argument without interruption. And they aren't getting the real rotten eggs some of their blogposts deserve. Virtual rotten eggs are harmless so "Don't worry, dear".

The sneering elitism of bloggers who believe that only certain chummy opinions should be articulated and that those who dissent or disagree are some form of inferior hoi polloi to be characterised by a lexicon of hackneyed and predictable lefty pejoratives contrived to undermine or discredit opposing viewpoints pisses me off.

Not least because most of what we were moaning about and predicted years ago has been revealed to be sadly true.

Bon voyage Clive!

Simon Denis

The EU is not the USSR but it has many of its features in embryo, to wit micro regulation, the policing of opinion, hostility to religion (particularly Christianity) and the use of population movement as a tool of anti-nationalist policy. Stalin simply shifted people; our modern commisars just let them come in, but the intention and the effect are as one - to weaken the traditional bonds of society. In this way the vertical links which force the population to depend upon its bosses and managers are correspondingly strengthened. Again, informally, the governing class of the EU is bolstered and supported by control of the media. A left "liberal" elite (of course, they are anything but Liberal in any meaningful sense) controls publicity and decrees the limits of acceptable expression. Hence a number of ossified imbalances in modern politics - Castro is a "revolutionary" whilst Pinochet (who restored his country and voluntarily stepped down) is a "dictator". Ethno-nationalist feeling is a great evil - in native Europeans, whereas among "minorities" it is not merely permitted but encouraged. Materialism is a geat evil - if pursued through the free market, but is a sign of maturity and intelligence in an anti-Christian socialist. Etcetera. The difficulty for anyone who recognises all this is that the left has managed, whether by accident or design, to reduce the number of indigenous young in Europe to the point where we are a gaggle of despairing, childless oldies who don't care to rock the boat and so their strangle hold gets tighter.

Tiberius

Simon Cowell is a sh*thead.

Patricia Shaw

Well done on the introduction of 'Report This Comment' - What a shame it had to be imposed upon you.

When will you apply it where its needed most? Melanie Phillips' blog?

Nicholas

Patricia Shaw - are you the local block monitor for the Peoples Republic?

If so, I imitate a scene from the film "Assembly", advise you to report this and pick up my virtual chair to hurl over the virtual table at you.

Wilhelm

British soldiers while on tour in Iraq and Afghanistan have to pay tax to Alistair Darling.

American soldiers while on duty in Iraq and Afghanistan dont have to pay tax.

So British soldiers are giving up their lives to defend the country, buy their own kit and pay tax.

Verity

Simon Dennis - Yes. If the primitive ethnics are being sluiced in because we "need" them (laughs a surly laugh), why do they authorise the abortion of 250,000 little British souls every year?

Andy Carpark

Nicholas, What disappointed me about Clive Davis's blog was not the lazy use of pejorative labels as a substitute for thought, not the nosegay-toting sighs of 'I thank thee, Lord, that I am not as other men,' nor the precious refusal to allow comments from ghastly little people or indeed anyone else.

No, what disappointed me was his louche, preening, narcissistic pretension, as manifested in quoting extracts from the novels of Stefan Zweig, without explanation as to their significance or merit. Those who breathed the same rarefied air as Clive Davis must be expected to guess.

What got under my nails was the languid dropping of names with seemingly no other objective than to convince us - or more likely himself - how far he was above the common herd. Argument or analysis was either non-existent or defiantly banal. What on earth did he imagine there was for the great unwashed to comment ON?

So, by way of an envoi to Clive, in whatever murky digital oubliette he is now exercising his talents, here is an 'appreciation' from back in August. Do not presume, Clive. One of the pseuds was damned.

'What a pleasure it is to see Clive Davis's blog "closed" for the summer.

Like seeing a rusty chain round the gates of some god-forsaken amusement park on Barry Island, that nobody visits, populated by one-armed clown mannequins, moronic-looking plaster of Paris animals, broken slot machines and the occasional lonesome seagull contemplating suicide.

One can only live in hope that The Authorities will soon take the natural step of upgrading the "Closed" sign to a "Condemned" sign, announcing the imminent dismantling and destruction of the tawdry exhibits, their consignment to the cyber equivalent of a council skip and finally the concreting over of the site, to serve as a skateboard park for local chavs.'

Rhoda Klapp

Nicholas. Right on. Mad as hell, not gonna take it any more.

Wilhelm

Patricia sweetheart

Are you teachers pet and the school snitch ?

Wilhelm

As for Clive Davis.

All journalists, no make that reporters, jornalists is too high brow a word for them are 100% narsisstic, self indulgent, egotists full of their self importance spouting piffle about subjects they know nothing about.

They hop from one tv studio to another, did some one mention media tarts Kevin McQuire and Fraser Nelson ?

Talking of Fraser, he did his Maria Antoinette impression last week '' Do I have to talk about boring old Neather, I'd rather talk about my crush on Joan Bakewell '' he might as well have added '' Let them eat cake ''. Thanks a bunch Fraser, the new showbusiness editor of Hello magazine..

The internet gives instant reply to the spurious garbage jornalists spout , they can dish it out but cant take it.

Patricia Shaw

Nicholas - How charming.

Pen mightier than the sword, except in your case it seems.

Why not at least TRY and talk about it? You might feel better for it.

pete-s

Parliament 3:35pm Chris Grayling accuses Labour of lying about immigration.

Verity

Andy Carpark, then why did you persist with reading him? I tried one of his posts once and narcolepsy set in. I never went back.

Anne Wotana Kaye

The free "London Evening Standard" reports that an Army of Snoopers are Spying on London. According to this paper, the latest council to recruit snoopers is Harrow. I happen to know that this area is heavily populated by "ethnics". I have had past unfortunate experiences (in Harrow) with a native UK-born snooper, so I am interested to know if diversity and multiculturalism have now corrupted the newcomers. Are they now so integrated that they happily peer into rubbish bins, and hide behind net curtains hoping to catch some unsuspecting citizen at work on naughty business? Fuhrer Bruin is certainly showing he is not only heavy handed, but also heavy fisted.

Nicholas

Patricia Shaw - does that mean you are or you are not the local block monitor for the Peoples Republic? We dissidents need to know these things.

Wouldn't dare to TRY and talk about it in this age of snooping, bugging, surveillance, censorship, thought control, suppression of free speech and denouncement brought in by your precious comrades. It would be like shouting "Fire!" in a crowded cinema and would get idiots like Mr Hoon all hot and bothered. But I acknowledge the new if somewhat impoverished pejorative you have used to put me down. A little bit more imaginative than the usual leftist tripe - but not by much.

Do not report this comment

Well done Nicholas!

David Ossitt

Brown did not bow his head at The Cenotaph; I have watched it three times now and that dreadful man did not bow his head.

But what can we expect from an unelected breaker of mandate promises; why should he bow at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, a soldier who represents our fallen.

How dare he; go through the motions and then be the one who did not bow, this crass incompetent buffoon, this coward, this ‘I will enter by the back door to sign away our sovereignty’ lying bastard.

This heap of Marxist ordure, this bungling fool; who from the very start set out to ruin Britain and who has almost succeeded in this endeavour, has, inadvertently done the people of these islands a great service; he has brought the labour party to its knees and if there is any natural justice it will never rise again.

Andy Carpark

Verity: A good question.

http://www.clivedavisconfab.com/2009/11/traces/

David Ossitt

Tiberius

"Simon Cowell is a sh*thead"

No; he is not.

Verity

David Ossitt - Be fair. It is not just Brown who brought our country to its knees. He was only fulfilling the plan mapped out by Tony Blair and his fat, chippy wife and his Marxist/Gramsci cohorts. And don't forget the huge contributions of Margaret Becket as Foreign Secretary (I still can't believe that one), Jaqui Smith as Home Secretary (ditto), the foul, loathesome snail slime Jack Straw, the only gay man in Britain without dress sense or a devastating sense of humour, Mandelslime, all the toy lords and lordettes elevated to our House of Lords, raving loony Harriet Hormone and others too insignificant for me to spend 30 seconds trying to remember their names.

Anne Wotana Kaye

I dont' watch the sort of shows Simon Cowell appears in, but was interested enough by the comments here to look him up. He can't be so bad since he is seriously concerned in animal welfare.

jon ryan

David Ossitt: So, Labour can put you down as a `maybe` then?

PS: This country has NEVER elected a Prime Minister. Not once. Can we have a more accurate insult, please?

THX1138

The Rightist Fringe In Britain

"Depressions can bring out the worst in people. And the racism percolating in the London Spectator's comments sections caused Clive Davis to take a stand:"

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/11/the-rightist-fringe-in-britain.html

The Spectator "loons" get called out by Andrew Sullivan

Andy Carpark

Steady on, Frank P, I'm sure Clive is a perfectly nice chap once you get to know him. The internet is a distorting lense which acts as a disinhibitor and exaggerates the foibles of the best of us.

That said, I have been predicting on a weekly basis that enforced human-animal miscegenation will be the latest act of sabotgage perpetrated by the faceless bureaucrats of the European Union, but somehow it never seems to get past the moderators, lackeys and running dogs of the Brussels Beast that they surely are.

Percy

I like most here despair at the current state of Britain, yet remain thankful that I don't live in a country run by Frank P.

jon ryan

Hold the front page!
Spectator CoffeeHousers are not the most barking mad people in England shock horror!

A bunch of fishermen in Bristol want to prevent cruelty to fish, and have chained themselves to a lake!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bristol/8350376.stm

Blimey! You lot have got some way to go if you're going to retain your `beyond the event horizon of sanity` title (but you're catching up fast)

Frank P

Ahhh. From the comments that I see retained from Andy Car Park and Percy, the editorial mates of Clive the Complainer have removed my pungent post speculating on his raison d'etre. Those who dish it out don't seem to be able to accept it when it is thrown back. Censorship, dear boys. As for you Percy, I'm quite glad that I don't have to run a country populated by people like you. I'd feckin' resign.

Peter From Maidstone

jon ryan, we always elect our Prime Ministers. That is why the elections for our MPs are not usually focused on local events but on personal feeling and national events. At the next GE I have a new Conservative candidate standing, of whom I know very little. I certainly won't be voting Conservative because I think she is the best representative of Maidstone, but because I wish to elect a Conservative government and David Cameron as Prime Minister.

It may be technically true that we do not elect a Prime Minister, but in this case the technicalities are the least important matter. Practically speaking we do all expect to elect a Prime Minister. That is why Tony Blair won us over where Michael Foot repelled us. (I don't mean to be unkind to Michael Foot).

2trueblue

Verity, your reply to D Ossitt.

You are making sense at last.

Tiberius

David Ossitt: if you say why you think Cowell is the "X-Factor one", I'll say why I think he isn't.

jon ryan

Nope. Wrong. Never. Not once. You have never elected a Prime Minister, Peter From Maidstone. Not technically, practically or anyotherwisally.

Sorry.

David Ossitt

jon ryan

"PS: This country has NEVER elected a Prime"

I never said we had, he was not elected in a ballet for the labour leadership.

Also; as Peter From Maidstone points out, we do in the sence that we know the party leaders.

You Sir are splitting hairs.

Nicholas

"THX 1138, LUH 3417, and SEN 5241 attempt to escape from a futuristic society located beneath the surface of the Earth. The society has outlawed sex, with drugs used to control the people. THX 1138 stops taking the drugs, and gets LUH 3417 pregnant. They are both thrown in jail where they meet SEN 5241 and start to plan their escape.

The human race has been relocated to a underground city located beneath the Earth's surface. In the underground city, the population are entertained by holographic TV which broadcasts sex and violence and a robotic police force enforces the law. In the underground city, society controls all life, all citizens are drugged to control their emotions and their behavior and sex is a crime. Factory worker THX-1138 stops taking the drugs and he breaks the law when he finds himself falling in love with his room-mate LUH 3417 and is imprisoned when LUH 3417 is pregnant. Escaping from jail with illegal programmer SEN 5241 and a hologram named SRT, THX 1138 goes in search of LUH 3417 and escape to the surface, whilst being pursued by robotic policemen."

And you describe us as "loons" THX. Tch tch.

David Ossitt

2trueblue

"Verity, your reply to D Ossitt.
You are making sense at last."

Please stop patronising Verity; the Lady’s posts always make sense.

2trueblue

D Ossitt, Have you got a thing about Cameron too?

Alexandrovich

David Ossitt:
"I never said we had, he was not elected in a ballet for the labour leadership."
Who arranged that then, Matthew Bourne and Longtitle?

Peter From Maidstone

jon ryan, there is no point arguing but I wonder if we polled the people around us and asked who they would choose for the next Prime Minister. Would they say, 'I am sorry you are mistaken, we never choose the Prime Minister', or would the say, 'I am going to vote for GB, or DC'. I would rather expect the popular response to be the latter. As I said, you are technically correct but practically wrong. You may dispute that but I believe the majority response would be as I have said.

jon ryan

..."But what can we expect from an unelected breaker of mandate promises..." as you would have it earlier.
What was he not elected to? Or to turn it around,. in what way did Brown's appontment differ from that of any other recent PM?

You may call it hair splitting, but the manner of the appointment of the PM is one of the bedrocks of our democracy and kills any verisimilitude your argument may hold.

Good heavens, you may as well say the phrase `the right to bear arms!` isn't English!

jon ryan

Sorry to pick up on a typo, I make just as many as everyone else, but this one is far too delicious to miss:
`...he was not elected in a ballet for the labour leadership...`
Now you're talking! A ballet for the leadership! What with the audience `Strictly` and so forth are pulling, this would bring the electorate out and no mistake:
"And now, dressed in a pink sequined ra ra skirt he stitched himself, Nick Griffin dances the cha cha cha"

Thanks, David. You have made my night!

Tiberius

While we're talking about codes (in a round-about sort of way), does anyone wish to own up to being username HH5 in morse?

Peter From Maidstone

jon ryan, we disagree on things, but on this we are agreed. What a wonderful idea. But could it not be expanded to other reality shows. "I'm a Politician, Get me out of here!". "Westminster's Got Talent!".

Beer Moth

'The Spectator "loons" get called out by Andrew Sullivan'

Look out! Low flying handbag.

How does it go again THX? If you're not taking flak ...and all that?

Patricia Shaw

Nicholas - ten respnses in and you re talking to yourself.

Just as well in your case.

Wilhelm

Patricia, luv

So whats your point ?

Alexandrovich

I think us 'Speccie Loons' are about to get our comeuppance. I guess that Nicholas and Rhoda are aware of this; they are meeting the challenge head-on at Clive Davis' blog.
However, I have a feeling that, generally, we have become too much of a thorn in the sides of a lot of people and that, even as we speak, plans are afoot to seriously curtail our fun.
We are becoming noticed in the 'outside blogosphere' and this will not reflect too well on this magazine.
Mark my words: we will be split-up and not allowed to sit next to each other in this class for much longer, probably at the beginning of the new term (2010).
Yes, old friends, and if we attempt to huddle for comfort anywhere else, they will follow us there to monitor us closely.
Are we a 'Contemptible Little Army'? I'd dearly like to think so but, either way, it's too late for me to get out of the impending Dystopia.
Something's afoot an' no mistake.

carol

Today is the anniversary of the downfall of the Berlin Wall. And that has been the only news on BBC World today. I live in Zimbabwe and rely on BBC World News when we have electricity. I would appreciate more news and less repitition.

Nicholas

Patricia Shaw - you obviously missed the comment of "do not report this comment".

But you still haven't answered my question. Are you the local block monitor or not?

Noa Zrk

Still finding a little mileage in the literal truth of an 'unelected PM Jon Ryan? Perhaps you would care to inform us why you consider the inability of the Courts, Lords, Commons or people to call Brown to account for his decisions as the bedrock of our democracy? Or are you just content with an oligarchy?

Frank P

Patricia Shaw

Everybody on this blog hangs on every word issued by Nicholas - including you apparently.
He is most certainly not talking to himself.

Frank P

Let's get back to the hottest topic since 9/11. Tonight the Fox 'all stars' finally nailed the lie about Hasan's motivation. Charles Krauthammer excoriated the top army brass, the FBI and the CIA for ducking the issue of what was known about him for some time before this planned terrorist attack on the biggest army post in the US. He also implicated Obama in the obfuscation of this c-c-c-criminals pedigree and Obama's expression of concern for other Muslim soldiers in the US Army trumping his concern for the victims and their families. Apparently stuff has emerged from his computers and he ws trying to contact Al Q overseas. The panel drew attention to the comparison to Obama jumping the gun about the Washington cop's confrontation with the black politician breaking into his own house, and Obama's extreme caution about everyone 'jumping to conclusions' about Hasan's motives and actions.

Fox just ain't gonna let this go. That'll teach Obama to declare war on Fox News, rather than on Islamic jihad.

I'm beginning to think that The One is a kamikasi pilot himself - a one flight aviator to nowhere.

Frank P

Another brilliant reprise by Steyn in NR's "The Corner" tonight:

>Then and Now [Mark Steyn]
As an historic day closes in Berlin, a reader asked me to post this excerpt from the prologue of America Alone, which to be honest had clear slipped my mind. But he seems to think it helps explain how we got from Reagan to Obama, and from the Berlin Wall to the Fort Hood media stonewall. So here it is:

There were two forces at play in the late 20th century: in the eastern bloc, the collapse of Communism; in the west, the collapse of confidence. One of the most obvious refutations of Francis Fukuyama’s famous thesis The End Of History – written at the victory of liberal pluralist democracy over Soviet Communism – is that the victors didn’t see it as such. Americans – or at least non-Democrat-voting Americans – may talk about “winning” the Cold War but the French and the Belgians and Germans and Canadians don’t. Very few British do. These are all formal Nato allies – they were, technically, on the winning side against a horrible tyranny few would wish to live under themselves. In Europe, there was an initial moment of euphoria: it was hard not be moved by the crowds sweeping through the Berlin Wall, especially as so many of them were hot-looking Red babes eager to enjoy a Carlsberg or Stella Artois with even the nerdiest running dog of imperialism. But, when the moment faded, pace Fukuyama, there was no sense on the Continent that our Big Idea had beaten their Big Idea ...and, with the end of the Soviet existential threat, the enervation of the west only accelerated.<

History and its lessons in a nutshell. He is probably pissed off that I grace this columns with his little masterpieces when he's not getting paid for them by his erstwhile employers. OTOH he probably thinks that spreading the message is more important (and he's not short of bob or two - I doubt this lot could afford him now).

Verity

Beer Moth - "Low flying handbag!" Ha ha ha ha!

Wilhelm

Gordon Broons Speling gate

Gordon Broon rote a leter of condolance to a mofer who lost her sun in Afganiststan, he scribled and scrawled on a scrap of papper how sory he was and stuf. The leter had 8 speling mistaks wif bad gramer and the nam of the dead solder was rong to and that.

This shows you that Gordon Brown just doesnt give a toss.
He blamed it on his poor eyesight, absolute garbage.

Does 10 downing street not have a dictionary ?

Gordon Brown, he's not house trained, you cant take him anywhere, what an ass.

logdon

A dog with two dicks? Forget that. Here’s a veritable lawn sprinkler on six legs.

Made me laugh, anyway.

Six-legged goat to grab eyeballs at goat exhibition
TNN 9 November 2009, 07:45am IST

VARANASI: Call it birth defect or wish of the Almighty, a goat with six legs, four testicles and three penis will be spared from holy sacrifice
on the occasion of Id-ul-Juha (Bakrid) this year.

While the black-coloured goat, barely one-year-old and weighing around 10 kg, is all set to attract attention during the goat exhibition prior to the festival, the owner of the goat has ruled out any chances of sacrifice of the unique goat on the auspicious day.

"This goat is a gift of God and the sacrifice of such a goat is not allowed in Islam," said Sher Mohammed, the owner of the goat, while talking to TOI on Sunday. "The goat can be displayed during Bakrid exhibition, but sacrifice of the goat is strictly prohibited," he added.

Saying the goat was born with six legs, four testicles and three penis a year ago, the owner adds it can walk freely and normally like other goats. "It faces problems in defecating and urinating, as discharge of urine is witnessed after frequent intervals from different penis. But still, it is a special goat that attracts attention of people," he added.

His neighbour Sarfaraz maintained that such a goat was rare in the city and had not been witnessed till date in any parts of the region. "I have seen goats with the name of Allah or the holy number 786 on their bodies, but a goat with six legs is definitely unique and special," he said.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/varanasi/Six-legged-goat-to-grab-eyeballs-at-goat-exhibition/articleshow/5209889.cms

logdon

Succinctly put.....

"Britisher pals, your problem is not immigration per se. Your problem is Islam.
Destruction of the indigenous culture was not an unintended consequence of an inept policy generated by Socialist head banging zealots pursuing a misguided Marxist philosophy. No, it was a deliberate, vindictive plan to wreak vengeance on Labour's traditional enemies. Namely, the middle and upper class. Revealed is all its treasonous detail thanks to Andrew Neather, former speechwriter and adviser to Blair, Straw and Blunkett. Although it was not anticipated that the multicultural doomsday machine would take on a Sorcerer's Apprentice life of its own.
Labour has offended just about every segment of UK society, bar Muslim immigrants and those on long-term benefits. Without their vote and support, Labour would be heading for total oblivion at the next general election. So keep this in mind Britisher pals: The vast majority of Muslim immigrants are Labour voters. So a vote for Labour is a vote for Islam.

Jackthesmilingblack
on November 09, 2009
at 08:52 PM

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/maryriddell/6533366/Gordon-Brown-should-say-the-unsayable-immigration-has-been-a-boon.html

logdon

Verity
November 10th, 2009 2:05am

That'll be the Pink Arrows, then.

jon ryan

Noa Zrk asked:
"Still finding a little mileage in the literal truth of an 'unelected PM Jon Ryan? Perhaps you would care to inform us why you consider the inability of the Courts, Lords, Commons or people to call Brown to account for his decisions as the bedrock of our democracy? Or are you just content with an oligarchy?"

Just what, specifically, do you see that the Prime Minister has done to attract the attention of the courts?

An essentially decent man finds himself in a job that has proved beyond him, his elevation caused by the ousting of a previous leader who had clung on for longer than was wise. He gained the position via due process and historic precident. He has to deal with the end of a recession, partly of his own making, and a Middle East war that was not of his making. Because his party is disintegrating about him, he doesn't go to the country until the last moment.

And there you have the potted history of John Major. Funny how history tends to come around.

Of 12 PMs since WW2, 5 - almost half - came to the position without first serving as leader in opposition and so were, by your definition (but not mine, or that of anyone with some knowledge of political history) `unelected`.

As I keep pointing out, we do not elect Prime Ministers in this country and never have.

No doubt the people will call Brown to account, probably next May. That is the bedrock of our democracy - and it works pretty damnned well.

Derek

Subscription Department Two Hurrahs! Three months to the day, the first issue of the Spectator since that of 1st August under my unbroken subscription and following my change of address notified and acknowledged in July ...arrived! To be precise, the issues of 17th and 24th October. The editions between 1st August and 17th August cannot be replaced. It remains to extract an acknowledgment from the Spectator's outsourced subscription department of the date to which my current subscription will be extended and to see if normal service has now been resumed....

Vulture

Re. Major Hasan and his massacre. I thought I'd share this email from a retired US military man who attended something called the Terlingia World Championship Chili Cook-Off in Texas at the w/end along with 5-6,000 other military-linked Americans from all over the US, serving soldiers, vets and their families. It gives an interesting insight into what the US military thinks of the Blessed One.

He describes first how the news of the Fort Hood massacre was broadcast at the event over the PA. "Everyone took off their hats and we had a moment of silence. Someone sang "America The Beautiful"'.

'The buzz was mostly about the shame that the perp[etrator] will likely not face the death penalty and that Obama will not support such a goal, him being such a friend of the Muslims. I am not kidding. I really got the heat regarding his rumored Muslim upbringing. President Obama took just as much heat among those old and young soldiers as did the killer'.

'President Obama was absolutely vilified to the point that even I was surprised. Our President is hugely unpopular among our military. Several groups of contestants were from Fort Hood and they criticised the Fort's military leadership for allowing such a nutcase murderer to rise to such high rank...'

Interesting. It seems that Bruin is not the only left-wing western leader totally out of touch with the feelings of the military he is sending to fight and die in the front line of the war against Islamist terror.
The US is rapidly waking up to the true nature of the asshole they elected a year ago. I hope they make their feelings known when he at last shows his face in Fort Hood today.

Frank P

logdon (8.30am)

I suppose there is no chance that 'Jackthesmilingblack" is really Fraser Nelson expressing his true thoughts incognito, so as to avoid the censure of his masters and thus surreptitiously keeping his promise to us to write about Neather?

Sadly, even if that is so; it is now far too late, as all other journalists of a conservative persuasion worth their salt have already covered it comprehensively.

Derek

Jon Ryan writes "As I keep pointing out, we do not elect Prime Ministers in this country and never have."

I thought that it was pretty clear what people mean by their PM being elected - they mean elected as leader of his party as justification for his leading the country as Her Majesty's first minister. For a long time the Left made political capital out of criticizing the Conservative party because its leader merely "emerged" as the consensus of persons who were not entirely visible even to the membership of the party. In 1965, Edward Heath was first elected to the leadership position by a hair's breadth in a result which developed not necessarily to Great Britain's advantage, to paraphrase the famous euphemism of Hirohito in his surrender announcement. Perhaps the Labour party thought that, by adopting the atavistic procedure of the Conservative party before 1965 or by the adoption of the principle of Buggins's turn, it might avoid a similar mistake... The Labour party on many fronts has abandoned the democratic principle. Time for it then perhaps to be seen to be "enduring the unendurable and suffering what is insufferable"...

Nicholas

Frank P I thank you kindly for your vote of confidence.

Alexandovich - I hope not but I think it inevitable that the battle for true freedom of speech will be fought over the blogosphere. Already the forces of darkness and power are focussing on it, correctly identifying it as the real and possibly only threat to their subversive power. The signs are there - alarmist and exaggerated scare stories about the harmful influences of the 'net, the supposed "dangers" of anonymity, the fact that ordinary people can "publish" without having to jump through the hoops of old boy networks, vested interests or pay sums of ersatz tax money to government in the pretence of "registration" and "safeguards", the ire and frustration that rebels and truth-tellers cannot be controlled, the prim, priggish, supercilious and utterly false displays of grave concern, contrived to demonstrate, wisely, that it is all for our own good (the nazi gauleiters Hoon, Burnham, Bradshaw and Benn are particularly good at these sham pieces of Goebbelsesque theatre).

Why is it so important to know who is publishing, or commenting, or revealing the truth? Do ordinary people know the web of vested interests, fake charities, quangos and incestuous relationships that drive so much New Labour government oppression? Well, in some cases yes, thanks to bloggers like Guido Fawkes and others. But it has to be dug out and dragged kicking and screaming into the sunlight that the cold-hearted creatures who want to run our lives hate so much.

Because the mass media view the blogosphere with suspicion, expect little support there. They tend to amplify if not encourage the hysteria so crucial to this particular government's bogus legislative policies. When societies experience injustice and oppression, when they can see for themselves the Very Big Lies masquerading as truth, it is very hard to suppress the individually flickering flames of freedom, whether it be in the daubed red "V" of graffiti or the heartfelt plea of the anonymous blogger.

Those who seek power over us and seek to extend it, for whatever reason, need to be robustly challenged, meticulously tested on truth and rigorously examined in reason. Parliament should be doing that but isn't. The mass media should be doing that but isn't. The blogosphere represents the popular resistance, the articulation of democracy, the checks and the balances. It is the greatest threat to them and they will seek to suppress it. But don't ever let them grind their jackboots over it.

And for the record, I have ceased to post at the Prig Davis' blog, not because his facile and arrogantly dismissive pretensions to argument leave me with nothing to say but because I have realised there is no point in engaging with such narrow-minded loons of the leftist fringe. They are all certifiable window-lickers, engaged amongst themselves in the great delusion of being not just sane but worthy and pursuing a chummy, tribal but absolutely deranged belief in their moral superiority. It is exactly the same arrogant sense of moral superiority that laid the foundations of Auschwitz, that drove millions into the killing fields of Cambodia and sustained the misery of Eastern Europe for forty years. We of the right may have our foam-flecked moments but our loosely shared ideology does not have that bloodstained and barbaric legacy on our conscience. A legacy that should be the subject of deep shame rather than hubris.

Verity

Vulture, well, first, it's spelled Terlingua and it is the biggest and best chili cook-off in the world. It's been going for 43 years. Great music, too. Terlingua is very important in the world of chili, and Texas has the best chili in the world.

Re Obama, I loathed him the first time I saw his photo, as I did with Tony Blair. Instantaneous. There's something unsettling about his face, as there is with Blair's.

Frank P

Nicholas (12.13pm)

Vote of confidence indeed! And your ensuing essay merited it, with knobs on! Bravissimo, maestro.

We must be watchful; resistant. The attempt to silence the digital dissenters has already begun; it will, like all previous oppression of the left be stealthy until critical mass is reached. Then it will be brutal and barbaric. There will be blood. How much of that blood will be that of the oppressors and how much will that of the oppressed depends on the determination expressed via these instruments of freedom of expression. Spread the word old friend - here and elsewhere. You have a rare gift as a wordsmith and your message is clear.

As an old sparker from the Y Service, let me express it thus:

QSA 5 QRK 5 QRI 1 QSL QRO AR

Rhoda Klapp

Nicholas. Well said, again. I shall persist with Clive, albeit not on the thread which began the trouble. On which thread he never responded except to ask me to bugger off back to where I came from. Which as the cabbie points out is a little ironic. So I suppose many of us remain unreconstructed racists. I incline to make a romantic deal of it, but I resist the temptation, I haven't been martyred, or hurt. The only victim is free speech, and she was lying in the gutter already, waiting for another kick from a passer-by. Oops. A little too strong with the rhetoric.

Anyhow, they won't respond. And the they I mean is not limited to Massie and Davis, but to pretty much all of the bloggers here, the media elsewhere and the political class. I used to believe in the disconnect. They live in the bubble, and they don't know the realities of life. But the fact is that very few of them can exist apart from real life. If they walk the streets, if they go to the shops or use public transport or the NHS, they are not SO disconnected. They must have relatives outside the bubble too. So it is not a case of disconnection. It is worse than that. They know exactly what we say, and refuse to hear. They have elevated themselves to a position of superiority such that they are not required to listen because they know better. Not only do they know better, but what we think we know or opine is invalid because it is based in ignorance, stupidity, racism, fascism or actual insanity. That is why we appear to have no voice, except on the net. That's why real blogs are always going to be better than clogs like this one, where journos blog to get back at each other like gossiping country ladies, or to set off a flow of comments from the Molochs for their Eloi amusement.

Peter From Maidstone

It's all very well commenting on here and on other blogs, but is there a forum anywhere with a Spectator/Standpoint membership so that it is possible to have actual conversations.

I am wondering if the Spectator staff have been told to produce lots of short blogs so that any such conversation which might be taking place quickly rolls off the front page.

I wanted to respond to the person who recommended Shute's In The Wet and say that I bought a copy in Waterstone's this morning and am immediately hooked. But goodness knows where that conversation took place.

Are most of us here for the blogs or the conversation and community? I must say I give the blogs a glance and then look for interesting comment.

Frank P

Nicho

Btw: I omitted the final stanza to my morse transmission:

To the likes of Clive Davis, Massie, et al:

dah-dah-dah Dah-di-di-dah-dit dah-dah-dah

which translates into an old retort, one oft used by the Royal Signals, sometimes affectionately, sometimes scornfully.

Peter From Maidstone

While I was walking back from town this afternoon I was thinking about the issue of our MPs role in scrutinising legislation.

It certainly seems reasonable that there are delegates sent from each constituency to perform this role on behalf of the constituents (though I am aware from the reporting of some recent parliamentary committees that many members of such committees don't bother to turn up).

But it also seems reasonable, and a positively democratic development, if all of the materials being scrutinised on our behalf by our MPs were available to the wider population and a mechanism whereby comments could be made and included in the process. This need not be in terms of voting, but in terms of providing a wider oversight of legislation. On many of the issues going through Parliament there must be 1000+ interested and intelligent people who are able and willing to study the same materials as MPs, perhaps with much greater diligence, and would be able to come up with necessary questions that should be posed to witnesses etc, and asked of the member MPs of various committees.

I have no idea who the Conservative candidate for Maidstone is. I have checked her website but can't even rememebr her name. Why should I feel confident that I can leave all scutiny of legislation which affects me to her? She has no Parliamentary background and therefore is no better qualified than I, and many of our present MPs have disqualified themselves from being considered as honourable members or able to scrutinise legislation freely and diligently. Indeed we know there are Labour Peers who will promise to change legislation if given a large enough bung.

What would be wrong with widening the participation in legislative scrutiny, and I don't mean just being invited to respond to a white paper and having any comments go straight in the bin. I could imagine, for instance, that a secure account could be created on a Parliamentary website, based on my NI number for instance, which allowed me to comment on various bills, and perhaps pose questions for the committee to answer or ask. Others could then recommend a question and the top questions could be asked. All of the documentation which MPs were being provided with would be available online. Comments could be made about the draft of a bill. This would increase democratic engagement.

I do not believe that MPs, on their own, are appropriately left alone to do what they want with only a recourse to constituent opinion every 5 years. What about Hattersley who has just said that he ignored his constituents all of his career. We should be able to see and hear all that our MPs say in Parliament and bring them to immediate account, as well as encourage them and help them frame better questions.

The political class should not be allowed to be restricted to Parliament and its Media hangers on. Our government belongs to us, not them. And I want more say in what happens. The idea that being able to vote - or not - every 5 years is a case of an outstanding democratic process in action is laughable if it were not so appalling at present.

Not for Prophet

Why is cold-blooded murderer and moonbat Hasan being given a free pass in the MSM because, sensitive and deeply religious soul that he is, he didn't want to be deployed to Iraq "to fight other Muslims"?

In WWII Christian British (the word British to include the Commonwealth) fought Christian Germans and Christian Italians, if I'm not wrong. No one went all limp-wristed and weepy about it.

Islam constantly seeks to elevate itself and manipulate itself into a position of superiority. Given the primitive nature of their society and their religion, it would be comical if they weren't so tetchy and violent with it. Giant inferiority complex, and deservedly so.

logdon

Shame on the Speccie.

Behind the curve on Hasan. All posters linking this to an act of Jihadi slaughter now vindicated.

Then the infamous Neather?

Despite beseeching requests from the bulk of posters we were treated as semi nut jobs and in addition, despite Frazer's promise, no further comment.

So here into this gaping breach of media responsibility steps Chris Grayling.

He, of all people to waft the flame of everlasting truth from the flickering, dying embers you guys despatched it to, into full blown conflagration.

This is dynamite stuff.

Nice work.

Keep it up and those quintessential breach busters, the BNP will have a field day next July.

From Con Home

"Chris Grayling accuses the Government of setting out "deliberately to deceive the British people" with immigration policy cover-up

On the day that Alan Johnson expressed a desire to see a "real debate" on immigration, Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling was yesterday granted an Urgent Question by the Speaker to ask the Government about claims that it broke Freedom of Information legislation to cover up a change of immigration policy.

Here are the charges Mr Grayling made in the Commons:

"More and more evidence is now emerging to suggest that the Government broke freedom of information laws and tried to cover up a deliberate change of policy designed to encourage much higher immigration, very probably for party political purposes.

Two weeks ago, a former Home Office adviser, Andrew Neather, was widely reported as saying that Ministers had covered up a secret plan to allow in more immigrants and to make Britain more multicultural. When I put those allegations to the Minister, he said, quite extraordinarily, that he had not and that he did “not know to whom or to which reports the hon. Gentleman refers” [Hansard, 26 October 2009]. Let us hope that he can do better today.

First, there was what was originally a secret plan. Will the Minister confirm that what he was talking about back in 2002 was a relaxation of the rules for clearing immigration applicants so that those who had been waiting more than 12 months would be granted clearance to stay without any further investigation into their cases? Will he also confirm that the head of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate said in an e-mail to the then Minister that that involved “pragmatic grants, i.e. not pursing every angle which could conceivably justify a refusal”, and that the policy meant that “some risks would have to be taken”?

Will he also confirm that Ministers were aware of that policy change and that they accepted that it involved taking risks with immigration applications?

Then there was the cover-up. Will the Minister confirm that the Home Office tried to withhold documents outlining that policy change from the Information Commissioner? I have copies of those documents, and they are clearly marked “withold” at the top. Will he also confirm that the Information Commissioner found the Home Office guilty of breaking the law, and ordered the documents marked “withhold” to be released? Will he tell the House why Ministers broke the laws that this Government had passed?

The Home Secretary says that he wants a rational debate on immigration, but why on earth does he think anyone will take him seriously in that debate when it is now clear that this Government have set out deliberately to deceive the British people, and have proved utterly incapable of telling them the truth about their policies on immigration."

Jonathan Isaby

http://conservativehome.blogs.com/parliament/2009/11/chris-grayling-accuses-the-goverment-of-setting-out-deliberately-to-deceive-the-british-people-with-.html

logdon

Frank P
November 10th, 2009 10:49am

logdon (8.30am)

I suppose there is no chance that 'Jackthesmilingblack" is really Fraser Nelson?"

As in a one man Hibernian Black and White Minstrel Show?

We should be told.

Anne Wotana Kaye

Imagine if Boris stood as an Independent candidate for a Boris Party in the forthcoming (we hope) General Election. I for one would give him my vote. Anybody else?

James Murphy

Indeed, Verity - sadly physiognomy is a lost art! Where Obama's strangely repulsive 'boat-race' is concerned, you are plum right to go with your intuition! His shiny-ness simply drips with self-regard. His glutinous conceit sticks to the soul of anyone watching, and is almost impossible to get off without a shower! I avoid watching any news story containing him, as I would never be out of the bathroom...

Rhoda Klapp

P of M, twas I who mentioned Neville Shute. I'm glad the book may still be found, I always found him an excellent author. Could you, when you have read the book, explain here the fictional Aussie voting system?

Frank P, my dad was a scalyback for 38 years. He never taught me the morse though.

Peter From Maidstone

Rhoda, it is published in an edition by Vintage: Random House. Published 2009. Together with editions of most of his other books it would seem. I am already interested in the main character and the Bush Brotherhood movement of Anglican clergy he is a part of.

In2minds

Michael White of the Guardian is on various radio stations saying how the case of the letter with spelling mistakes by Gordon Brown is being spun for political purposes. White is a former political editor of the Guardian, so this must be right?

Beer Moth

How long is it now that we were treated to footage of mass murderer al Magrahi, so gravely ill that he was hooked up to all kinds of bleeping machines and looking like he was just about to have the last rites? (Mwa haa)

Is he still alive? If so, can we have him back to serve his 'life' sentence? I bet it's 'no' you know!

THX1138

Anna Waotana Kaye - Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, has encouraged people to undergo a day of fasting to help them gain a better understanding of their ''Muslim neighbour'

He Said:

"Muslims are at the heart of every aspect of society. Their contribution is something that all Londoners benefit from. Muslim police officers, doctors, scientists and teachers are an essential part of the fabric of London.

''Islamic finance is contributing to the economy by changing the way Londoners invest, save, borrow and spend. There are valuable lessons that people of all backgrounds can learn from Islam such as the importance of community spirit, family ties, compassion and helping those less fortunate, all of which lie at the heart of the teachings of Ramadan"

Still voting for Boris are you? Thought not!

Verity

I'm heartened by the negative comments on blogs and MSM blogs from Conservatives about Cameron . No one has a good word to say for him, and some give quite vivid descriptions of what they perceive of his character.

I don't want to make myself a hostgage to fortune, but I would be very surprised if the Tories get in at the next election.

Frank P

James Lewis, over on American Thinker, gets it. Rather than just linking it, I'll reprint it in full as it synthesises much of what we have discussed disparately over the months since Obama appeared mysteriously from nowhere with the backing of Soros;

November 10, 2009
The President of Resentment

By James Lewis
Some people have a government, and some governments have a people, said Ronald Reagan. We are being turned into a nation where the government owns the people. It is the demagogic heirs to the dreadful history of slavery who are now trying to turn the tables; Obama is a slave-master in the making. He looks the part, he acts the part, and behind the scenes, his commissars are making it happen.

Obama has never displayed his bitter, long-harbored resentment toward America quite as obviously as he did after the Fort Hood massacre. The president couldn't figure out how to respond with the dignity befitting his office.

I happened to be going through the Washington, D.C. airport a couple of months ago when I heard a lot of people clapping and whooping in a little demonstration. When I looked, I noticed a single elderly French horn player sitting on a folding chair and playing patriotic tunes to enliven a parade -- if you can call it that -- of elderly wheelchair-bound vets from World War Two coming off their plane: the Greatest Generation, as even Tom Brokaw called them. They looked shrunken, most of those lifelong handicapped vets, wearing baseball and VFW caps, but some of them left their wheel chairs and walked through the reception as the old horn player did his tunes. My eyes started to tear up and I walked over to join the applause as these real saviors of the West went on by. They were greeted by a little reception committee and then went on to what was almost surely their last celebration with their buddies from the war. And that octogenarian horn player kept on playing his patriotic tunes.

Some of the bystanders joined in the applause, but there were some who made a display of their indifference and contempt as well. It was an interesting lesson in our split society. One young man jauntily walked away from the little homecoming demonstration, prancing in the opposite direction -- a little counter-demonstration all by himself. Those old vets in wheelchairs had no meaning for him. They were just mean old white guys, or something equally bizarre. The most democratic army in history, the one that brought together Italians, Jews, Germans, Poles, and yes, blacks and Japanese Americans and everyone else, all of them scared of dying but convinced that their country was imperiled by some pretty evil characters in Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan, and the Soviet Union. So they fought and died, sometimes in great numbers. Bob Dole got his lifelong wounds in the murderous Italian campaign, just like John McCain got his shoulder-bones broken in the Hanoi Hilton. Some of those World War II guys were wounded for life, and some of them were now being rolled in wheelchairs before our eyes. They meant nothing to the contemptuous young man who pranced away from them.

That's a small metaphor for this administration. The young counter-demonstrator had no idea about the sacrifices of the Greatest Generation, the lethal dangers the country confronted after Pearl Harbor, and the heroism of our soldiers, sailors and marines. He'd no doubt been told from childhood onward how evil White America really is. Yes, those WWII soldiers represented an imperfect democracy, but it just happened to be the best one on earth. And those young soldiers knew that because of their own family histories, because American history was still taught in all the schools, and because they were good and decent people who were shocked by the vile regimes conquering Europe and Asia, ruthlessly killing millions of innocent civilians as they went. It was a huge resurgence of barbarism, and their very souls cried out against the injustice of it all. They were Americans. It wasn't necessary to explain things to them. They got it.

And so the high school girls stayed home to watch their sweethearts go off to war. Some of their men came back, often shell-shocked, but they didn't talk about the war. They went back to their lives and tried to pursue happiness. A lot of them never came back.

And then some guy named Joe Stalin exploded the first Soviet nuclear bombs, an A-bomb and an H-bomb. After all of their pain and homesickness and sacrifice, another totalitarian enemy had infiltrated the U.S. government, up to and including the White House staff. Those infiltrations were real, as we now know. They were not just the wild imaginings of Tailgunner Joe McCarthy. So Americans became angry and frightened by this new danger, especially because the State and Federal bureaucracies, the teachers, the media, and the universities were penetrated by the Stalinist Left and their front organizations. For the first time in human history, a single Soviet bomber could fly from Europe to New York City and obliterate all of Manhattan with the push of a button. Americans were outraged and frightened by this new threat, and they supported a vigorous anti-Communist movement led by people like Harry Truman, Richard Nixon, Joe McCarthy, Dwight Eisenhower, and a host of others. For some decades the American people defended themselves vigorously and effectively against the Stalin-directed fifth column that threatened their lives and freedom.

Today we are seeing a Second Cold War, but the enemy is within, just as it was after World War II. We are seeing outright front organizations again. "J Street" is a classic example; it should be called "J Front." It's a fraud, claiming to represent people who never voted for them. George Soros, who sets up many of these phony organizations, is a man who accommodated the Nazis, among other distinctions. He has never displayed a smidgen of guilt for his role in the the disposition of Jewish possessions after their owners were arrested and sent to death camps -- men, women, and children. Normal Holocaust survivors feel tremendous guilt; Soros sounds jaunty and devil-may-care about the murderous cannibalism of those years. He made out well and started his long road to fortune. Today he is financing Obama's "Coup from Above" with the same insouciance with which he betrayed his Jewish relatives in Hungary.

There's a story to be told there. But don't expect the media to tell it.

The American people are hearing a call to arms -- not literal arms, for our system can self-correct. But we have to out-organize and out-pressure the Left. They have called us "the enemy" ever since Alinsky's little book radicalized the revolutionaries of the Boomer Left (and this only after the violent revolutionary groups were suppressed). When somebody really considers you an enemy, you have no choice: either you return the compliment, or you get overwhelmed by the new Chicago Mob in D.C.

The Left has shown how to win from a minority standpoint. According to a recent poll, American conservatives have a two-to-one majority. They are constantly undermined by the political Left: ridiculed in the media, demeaned in the schools and universities, and outmaneuvered at the state and national level by Leftists who are far nastier and far more ruthless than ordinary, decent Americans. This is a struggle for the country. We need to toughen up.

The first lesson is to start telling the truth without fear. Shout it out. Demonstrate. Tell your truth to your relatives that you've been trying to be nice to all these years. Make it pleasant and polite, but firm. Don't yell. Just talk and talk and talk. Yes, you can stand out from the crowd. Half of your listeners will privately agree with you if you state your case well, and over time they will find the courage to speak up, too.

The second lesson is to build up a cadre of leaders -- in the media, in politics, in the educational system, everywhere. We have at least one charismatic leader now in Sarah Palin. That's why she is under constant, vicious attack from the Left. That's why they burned down her church in Wasilla. They fear her. I love her for the enemies she has made. There are many other good people, but a charismatic political talent comes just once in every generation. She needs and deserves support. So do others.

When conservatives betray American conservatism, let them know you will vote against them, and support their conservative opponents in all the ways that work. Don't get nasty and hysterical. Just be calm and firm.

The third lesson is to organize, organize, and organize. That's how the Left did it. Tea Parties are good; the Heritage Foundation is good. There are many good organizations, and we need to support them with our dollars and our voices. We need to mobilize conservatives into active pressure groups around their greatest concerns. Web freedom is a crucial one right now. So is free radio and TV. When the Left attacks Fox News or Rush, we have to raise a gigantic fuss on their behalf. The media cannot be allowed to ignore our demonstrations. We have shrugged our shoulders and allowed far too many good people to be attacked.

The elections of 2010 will be a major survival test. If Americans fail that test, we will become Britain in its catastrophic decline under fifty years of socialism. A new Ruling Class will arise, just as it has in socialist Europe, and they will not care one bit about the people. They will import hostile voters from third-world countries. They will forge alliances with Islamists, as they are already. America will be helpless, and all the hostile forces around the world will know it. They will all try to push us under. If we are governed by a domestic fifth column, then North Korea, Russia, China, Iran, Hugo Chavez, the Sunni Muslim Brotherhood...all of them will beat us down. Real democracy is just not their thing.

At the U.N. we see kleptocracies in charge. Behold our future if we do not act. Chicago and Detroit stand as warnings.

Conservatives are individualists, so we have to do something unusual: organize, organize, organize. Local and national. Even international. We have friends in the British media looking for us to stand up and defend civilization, just as they stood up against Hitler when we were still dithering. Some of our friends are in Australia, in Canada, and yes, in France. Around the world there are millions who get it. We can be American patriots with allies all around the world. They need leaders and vocal support just as much as we do.

And we must militantly defend the freedom of the web. The Stalinoids will attack it viciously, just as they will attack talk radio and Fox News. We are fighting the same enemy Ronald Reagan fought. We have to do it just as intelligently and vigorously as he did.

The word "activist" used to be a media word for the Left. It's high time to make it work for American conservatives.

Become an activist or lose your country.

Page Printed from: http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/11/the_president_of_resentment.html at November 10,

Frank P

Rhoda

So you're not the subject of this old couplet:

She was only a scalyback's daughter,
But she di-dit 'cos da-da di-dit.

EC

Meanwhile over on Rod's blog, following his broadside on Celtic, the comments are sky-rocketing. An avalanche of hostile comments is coming from north of the border, and perhaps Corby, as sectarian fans are queuing up to insult Rod and each other. In the corner of darkened rooms they are sharpening their taunts, "Ella hen, are there two f's in sphincter?"

Is the soar-away Speccie is having it's "You Scum" moment? Will the circulation plummet north of the border? Is Fraser a fitba fan? Is he Rangers or Celtic? Will he remain silent? Exactly how will "ndm" attempt to shift any blame for this sectarian spat on to Melanie Phillips and her readership?

Do go over to Rod's and take a look.

Anne Wotana Kaye

THX1138
Good morning. Yes, I repear I would vote for him. I would also be happy to have all religions respected and observed once again in this country. I am tired of atheism, abortionists and the arrogance of the Left. Is yoru question asnwered?

Anne Wotana Kaye

Apologies for dreadful typing errors.

Anne Wotana Kaye

Just had to write another posting. Read Frank P's excellent piece and also Rhoda Klapp's thoughts on Neville Shute. After reading about the vile Soros and the creepy Obama, it was refreshing to recall another Shute novel: The Pied Piper. It helps one to retain faith and hope in humanity. Kindly forgive my ramblings.

Nicholas

What is the obscure(?) Shute novel about the young pilot accused of sinking one of our own submarines whilst flying Anson aircraft on Coastal Command duties early in the war? I read it years ago but cannot recall the title and would like to read it again if possible.

Anne Wotana Kaye

Nicholas:
Landfall: A Channel Story is a novel by Nevil Shute. It was first published in England in 1940.

Verity

I saw in the headlines this morning that the new EUSSR president is to be a "permanent president". In other words, President for Life. What's wrong with Kim Il Jung? He has the experience.

Frank P

Nicho

Take your pick:

http://www.nevilshute.org/thumbnails.php

Rhoda Klapp

I'm glad I was able to bring Shute back to people's attention. I had no idea he was back in print. Fifty year anniversary, I suppose.

I will be looking for Trustee from the Toolroom, my personal favourite. For those who are thinking of having a look, Round the Bend and The Chequerboard are good too.

I wonder whether he could get published today. No spies, no serial killers, no angst, no popish plots. No chance. Or does our own novelist/publisher know better? Susan?

Nicholas

Anne and Frank - I thank you!

Kevyn Bodman

As EU President Kim Il Sung would be better; we know he saw it through right till the end without wavering, in fact he is still Eternal President of his country.

If he could be persuaded to take on the EU job as well and hold the two posts simultaneously it would be a wonderful way of bringing together two governments united in their attitude to freedom.

Verity

Kevyn Bodman - "If he could be persuaded to take on the EU job as well and hold the two posts simultaneously it would be a wonderful way of bringing together two governments united in their attitude to freedom."

Yes indeed! And bringing the true nirvana of multiculturalism!

Paul B

Good article on the futility of the war on drugs

http://tinyurl.com/ykdpv9h

The Flying Fashionista

Did anyone else clock Sarah Brown's mind-bogglingly inappropriate gown for the Cosmospolitan awards? I mean ...

Does she, an ex-pr operative, not know that the words "glamourous" and "olive green" are not a team?

(NB - credit to her for being the first woman history to think olive green might be an interesting choice for low-cut evening attire for older women.)

Did she choose that colour of gown and the depth of its colletage herself? (Please, no!) Did companies ever really once take PR advice from this individual?

(No offence.)

Wilhelm

Went over to the Rod Liddle thread talking about tedious Celtic Rangers football, Its got 2.500 comments.

Its like a chimps tea party.

Its classic denial, refusing to accept that they are bigots, side stepping the issue, putting the blame on others, it wasnt my fault they squeeel. Its truly sad and pathetic.

Richard Webster

Why is it that the EU treats gambling differently to every other industry when it comes to consumer rights and free and fair competition between suppliers. It seems that open markets are implemented when it is politically convenient, rather than when standing by the principle regardless of the moral objection of a minority. Could Coffee House host a debate on this?

Owly

This website is incompatible with some old browsers so I'm no longer able to post comments unless it's using the old post-a-message system.

I've had to use someone else's computer to post this.

Also, the drop-down menu on the permanent menu doesn't work on some old browsers. Less of a problem as I can get there slowly by clicking on each bit of the menu but the technological change has not been for the better on this website.

Pot Head

Owly If you're a PC user just go and download Google Chrome it's super fast and free.

http://www.google.com/chrome/

A. MacAulay

Like everyone else, I like to let Rod Liddle provoke me, and as a follower of Celtic, I have made three very mild attempts to add something to the nonsense on Liddle's Blog. Alas to no avail! Now, I do not know if I'm not getting through or being edited out. The former is annoying but not tragic but the latter would be cause for unease. My point is that after some centuries of Irish immigration, the tone of the Blogger and the Blogees would suggest that the British body politic has in no way digested this influx. Logically, how much more trouble will Britain have with the present (last 40 years) wave of immigrants. I think this is a fair question and one that concerns other readers.

A. MacAulay

Well, here it works anyway, and more on the subject level of prior comments about the EU and it's stifling, sombre, all-encompassing pseudo-staatlichkeit, I remember a comment by Joschka Fischer,, Germany's creepy, lefty-green former FM, when he said that the EU was the only guarantee for peace in Europe, so signing the treaty was mandatory for all. I thought at the time, and if we don't sign what are you going to do? Drops bombs on us again?

But seriously, no one even bothers to ask the Germans what they think and there is no debate whatsoever about the EU within Germany. Recently the constitutional court had to call the parliament to order for it's abrogation of civil, democratic duties in being too willing to sign off it's responsibilities to Brussels.

Beer Moth

A. MacAulay.

Much more. Catastrophically more.

And don't be too hard on Rodders. He's done what his boss told them all to do: write something provocative and do it fast so as to lay the Neather void to rest (Only Mel told him to sod off). The nation is heaving under the weight of 300,000 incoming aliens per year - by government maldesign - and we have people getting in a spin re-inventing the old prods and taigs game.

Verity

Pothead: What is Google Chrome? Is it just a faster search engine?

James Murphy

Yes, flying fashionista! Not knowing their ultimate fate, I too feared for Mrs Brown's low-flying bosoms, consoling myself that at least her dress self-evidently doubled as a parachute to waft them down to a safe landing... - Watch out below!

A. MacAulay

Yes one can only get a rise out of the Germans on the EU by pointing it out that that the French can afford their atom bombs and pushy attitudes because German taxpayers (and the British too) pay to subsidise French farmers. But no pol here has the balls to say that, not even Angie though you do see her grit her teeth sometimes when cher Nicolas drops his next ego-turd.

Verity

Benedict Brogan's piece in The Telegraph today (Thursday) - "Is Cameron A Real Radical" - has drawn 177 comments so far. All but one speaking strongly against Cameron. (That one was the loon from Baton Rouge, Louisiana who thinks he's an expert on Britain.) Almost all said they wouldn't be voting Tory as long as he was Leader. Most of the commenters are frequent contributors to blogs in The Telegraph and other conservative publications, not trolls. Cameron is heartily loathed by rank and file Conservatives.

daniel maris

James Murphy -

Low flying eh?

"Bandits at 10 o'clock - oh, and 2 o'clock."

Well Gordon's had not a bad week as far as his weeks go. He didn't collapse and have to be hospitalised after going jogging. He got the sympathy vote for his primary school writing effort. He managed to make Dave blush at PMQs. And now his wife gets her t*ts out for the lads! Hurrah!! That's one in the eye - sorry two in the eye - for the soaraway Sun.

Derek Wicks

Owly - You are right. One weakness which is particularly irritating is that after one logs in, which is meant to enable one's posts to appear automatically,one receives above this dialogue box in which I am typing this a greeting by name and with one's email in brackets, but then the statement that "If you verify your email address your comments will go up automatically ". Since one's email address appears in the fialgue box,this is evidence that one has already so verified it, but my experience has been that the post does NOT go up automatically if, as I intend to do now, one submits the post without more. "verify your email address",on the other hand, is a link but if you click on it, whether you have already verified your address or not by that route, you just get recyled after verifying to the same box and the same message and could, if tired of life, keep circling round and round for ever. I prefer to use the "ordinary CHs" box and suffer the indignity of waiting to see if I pass whatever test is imposed on posts of the unregistered. May be I am doing something wrohg - but no one is giving guidance. I did, by the way, try out an html code here, some weeks ago now,and it did not have a happy result.Could we perhaps therefore transfer the contract for web design and maintenance to Peter from Maidstone? I am sure he would educate us in what can and cannot be done in this box and generally improve the site's functioning. Disclaimer: I don't know Owly or Peter. Anyhow, I am going to click on Post a Comment now and see if i goes up immediately. Local time in China:11.57am.

Derek Wicks

For those interested, the message appearing in the box after I clicked the post now buttin at 11.57 read: "Thank you for submitting your comment. A member of staff will review the comment soon and make it appear on the website." That doesn't sound like "automatically to me... Meanwhile on this box there is a note below it immediately above the "Post a comment" button saying "Your comment will not be published immediately". Is this objectively all confused or am I just having a senior moment? (12.02pm China time)

Derek Wicks

I don't usually like to quote here excerpts from other blogs and prefer, where I think it worth reading, only t post the link; but in this case I want to make an exception because of the outstanding importance of the subject matter and because the comments apply mutatis mutandis to Great Britain and our politicians and journalists. The following is from American Thinker on Veterans' Day (http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/11/it_isnt_political_correctness.html):

"...I have watched in abject horror the elites' stunning reaction to this act of war. The denial, the submission, the excuses, the dodging, the self-flagellation, the shame -- the deceiving of the American people by the media, the military, society, law enforcement, authorities and politicians, all the way up to and including the White House -- amounts to the enforcement of Shariah law.

Shariah law forbids criticism of Islam. And here we are.

We are witnessing an Islamized America. This is well beyond political correctness. We are enforcing Shariah law. We will not insult Islam -- that is Shariah law. We self-censor -- that is Shariah law. We disrespect ourselves and our nation so that we might respect Islam. This is dhimmitude. We should be raging; we should be outraged. We should be strategizing for this worldwide conflict. We should be debating about which leader will best handle Islam's war on the West. And yet we have not one leader who begins to understand the conflict -- that's how feared the subject matter is. Not one leader. ...".

Ken

@Pot Head - re Chrome, fast I agree, but its also full of spyware, meaning its advisable to download the also-free-Spybot (www.safer-networking.org) to clean out Google evil at the end of each session.
'Goggle' is almost as bad as Liebour Stasi in respect of intrusive surveillance!

Ian Walker

Did anyone else see Campbell on This Week last night? What a complete disgrace. Thank quantum Portillo was on form to skewer him about his bullying:

Portillo: Everyone says your a bully
Campbell: No-one ever gives detailed examples
Portillo: (gives detailed examples)
Campbell: Yes, but you're a Tory so that doesn't count.

Two anti-Sun pieces in a row, from a Labour spin-doctor and a Beeboid luvvie. Appalling bias, normal for the BBC but unusual for This Week.

In2minds

Ken @ 8.54am “Goggle' is almost as bad as Liebour Stasi in respect of intrusive surveillance”!

I agree and remember this surveillance culture, it's all driven by the EU. So your comment about the Stasi carries extra weight!

Chloe

Verity, Google Chrome installs Google on your toolbar meaning that Google can look at EVERYTHING you do.

As if they didn't get enough data from ordinary Googling on the plain search engine.

No Right-minded person would ever endorse such an invasion of privacy.

For a non-invasive search engine, try cuil.com - there are others too.

Verity

What is the point?

I wrote, on Mel's Multiculti blog, a response to a silly women from Singapore. I am Singapore's biggest fan and my response was informed by the experience of having lived there and having read all 900 pages of Lee Kwan Yew's "From Third World to First World", and, it didn't go up.

I wrote to David Blackburn asking what on earth the "moderators" could have found fault with and he wrote back that he would cut and paste it up today. Well, it's 2p.m. British time and it's still not up. Meanwhile, that particular blog has moved down the page and people are clearly not visiting it any more.

I wrote, as one must on these socialist pages, with a keen eye on self-censorship, yet it still didn't go up.

Thank you to Chloe and the gentleman with the hard-to-remember blog name (one cannot switch back and forth to check between the comment box and the body of the blog with this primeval new commenting system) for your comments on Chrome. I hadn't installed it because I suspected it was an information-gathering device. Thanks for the confirmation. So, Google, that's a 'no', then.

Peter From Maidstone

I did have some trouble at the beginning of this new system when I seemed to be going round in a loop being asked to login, when I clearly had because the system knew my name.

I have a statement on the post form here saying that my comment will appear automatically. Sometimes it goes up in minutes, other times it does not for quite a while. It would be good to know what the moderation methodology is on this site. Are their times when our posts go up automatically unless someone complains? And is there an over night period when things are not automatic? Or what? It doesn't seem consistent or clear.

The simplest html to use on the posts here are the bold and italic tags. It is also possible to use font and marquee. I am sure there are others but I don't want to mess up the comments or attract negative attention from the administrators.

I would also avoid Chrome

THX1138

Google and The Tories are best buddies: Steve Hilton's Wife Rachel Whetstone is Head of Communications at Google & Eric Schmidt Google CEO is on Osborne's Economic Recovery Committee. And the Tories use the fantastic Google docs to publish their MP's
Expenses. Fraser was full of the wonderfulness of Google:

"Fraser Nelson says that the Conservatives are taking their cue from the West Coast of America: the land of Google, Stanford University and venture capital. They want to rebuild Britain in California’s image: dynamic, high-tech, green and ‘family-friendly’ "

http://www.spectator.co.uk/essays/all/3388306/they-wish-we-all-could-be-californian-the-new-tory-plan.thtml

Lets face it Google is cool, clever young liberals getting very, very rich. Perfect!

Verity

My response on Melanie's Multiculti Kills blog, now having been overaken by subsequent posts by Mel over the previous 24 hours and moved down to page two, has finally gone up. If you go to it, you will see I was careful not to make the moderators nervous, yet it was held back anyway until I kicked up a fuss.

Chloe

Let's face it, Google and the Tories are like Jonathan Aitken in the old Tories selling arms to the Saudis.

You hope they're interested in conservatism but actually all they care about is using conservatism to sell everyone else down the river while looking after themselves and the rest of the elite.

I'm with Peter Hitchens and Gerald Warner - don't vote for them.

Peter From Maidstone

There is an interesting article by Mohammad Asghar on the <a href="http://www.newenglishreview.org/custpage.cfm/frm/49049/sec_id/49049">New English Review</a> site, in which he describes how Islam without Jihad would die, and urges us to face the threat posed to us.

Peter From Maidstone

Why the delay in posts going up? I thought this process was automatic for approved posters?

Verity

I, for one, declined to apply to be "approved" by the Speccie.

Verity

Peter from Maidstone - Linkee no workee.

EC

Ken, In2Minds, PFM and Verity,

Google Chrome has a simple, uncomplicated user interface and it is superfast.

Why worry about Google knowing what you look at when NuLab introduced the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000? (RIPA) Regulated(sic) invasive surveillance activities through a framework of warrants and authorisations.

When the Act was first past, only nine organisations (such as the police and security services) were allowed to invoke it but that number is now nearly 800 public bodies, including ALL councils. Yes, that's right! Any little common purpose, or other, Stasi turd in any department of your local council or quango can intercept and read your post or emails.

You are better off out of it Verity! I feel fairly certain that the 'Federales' aren't at all interested in your opinions of Dave.

I hope you are enjoying some sunshine. I'm not often envious but the weather over here has been miserable all week and this weekend it is apocalyptic!

Anne Wotana Kaye

I too am finding my post is delayed for hours. Indeed, something I wrote last night has never appeared. Wrote nothing especially shocking either.

Beer Moth

Major Nidal Malik Hasan is, according to his lawyer, paralysed as a result of the wounds he received whilst carrying out his particular version of jihad.

Poor dear.

Nicholas

Bit late commenting but just watched QT which I had recorded. Thought the truly, stupendously odious and obnoxious Shaun Woodward put on one of the most pompous, priggish and slippery performances I have yet seen from a Labour politician. And largely got away with it. Almost every question was deflected to become a ridiculous attack on the Tories, even immigration being the Tories fault. Poor old Dame Neville-Jones didn't stand a chance and missed the opportunity when Woodward was sermonising about DC's pact with the Sun (and not distancing himself) to mention Brown, McBride and the email smears.

The Labour party plant in the audience, parroting the mantra, the one who had so conveniently brought his passport with him, was so obvious and looked very familiar.

I have to say though that I despair at the quality of Tory representatives on this programme. They are invariably eaten alive by the leftist chairman (Humphreys in this case), the Lib Dem opposition (who would rather attack the other opposition than government), the Labour representative who always gets to say a lot more than anyone else, the token lefty celebrity/comedian/author/actor, and the solid Labour/lefty phalanx planted in the audience (the ones who do the co-ordinated clapping) and the generally bolshy whingeing of the rest of the audience.

Utterly depressing experience watching this. I would love all the private nods and winks from the BBC that marshal & co-ordinate the lefty performance (panel and audience) prior to the programme to be leaked and exposed. The left do conniving so well it's a pity we can't have a cutaway of it in action, like one of those old Eagle comic drawings "How Labour Do QT Deceit with the BBC".

Verity

Beer Moth is kind enough to inform us: “Major Nidal Malik Hasan is, according to his lawyer, paralysed as a result of the wounds he received whilst carrying out his particular version of jihad.” Does that mean he won’t be able to shoot a gun from now until he receives his lethal injection?

Verity

EC - Oh, for some 'miserable weather'! Drizzle. Wind gusts up to 60 mph. Drenching downpours. Chill winds. Grey skies. Even just one day with a grey sky! Having to put on a sweater!

One always wants what one hasn't got.

Frank P

Nicholas

A brilliant TV critique of a programme that constitutes a major element in Agitprop's continued contribution to the counter-culture war that continues apace in the UK. If this magazine was still truly an organ of conservative thinking the Editor would snap you up as their TV critic. It is a terrible injustice that they get you for nothing: exploitation of someone who is a tireless volunteer sniper against the Long Marchers.

Thank you for expressing so eloquently similar thoughts to those that surge through my central nervous system as an excruciatingly painful condition each time I force myself to watch this travesty of an 'opinion forum' - in an attempt to keep abreast of what the insidious bastards are up to. I also agree that this episode was a particularly painful experience; is there nothing that can be done about Shaun Woodward? Perhaps we should apply to the OED suggesting that he should be listed as the platinum-plated incarnation of the word 'hypocrisy' - a posthumous entry after his being shot by a firing squad against an inner wall of The Doughnut in Wood Lane (for many counts of treachery).

Paul B

Never seen this happen before

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVgYdkqQMZI

EC

Nicholas,

I've been unable to make myself watch or listen to the Dimbleby Bros. franchise for some years now. Curiosity got the better of me and I did actually watch the Griffin-time special but it proved to be as frustrating, disappointing and hopeless as every other edition. The most notable feature of the episode being the size of Warsi's flamboyant giant poppy.

James Murphy

Nicholas - I admire your bravery in even watching QT! Or should I condemn your foolhardiness? Intellectually bankrupt, the only emotions QT inspires are a profound frustration, disgust and despair at the general level of intellectual idiocy and mean-spiritedness given air time by Al Beeb. Even when old Sir Robin was MC, QT used either to bring me out in spots or reaching for the Valium. To my mind, one might as well attend an agm of the BNP for all the illumination it provides! Sure, some might argue that one has a duty to keep up to speed with one's enemy's thought processes; however, I firmly believe that Aristotelian contempt for the programme is the order of the day. Laugh it to scorn to as many friends and acquaintances as possible and they may, just may, begin to look at it in a different light and think about switching off. We can only defeat the Leftist world view by voting with our couch potato feet.

Nicholas

Frank, EC and James.

It's a dirty job but someone has to do it! Watching these performances and analysing the conniving tactics of the Left is something DC's team should be doing, but I suspect (because of the mouthpieces they put on and/or their own confused ideology) that they are just not getting it. They react and respond, dancing to the Leftist tune more often than not. Know your enemy, exploit his weaknesses, play him at his own game. Seize the intiative and maintain it. Keep up the pressure on him. Keep him off balance. All these tried and tested tenets the Tories appear to ignore in favour of ho-hum lukewarm reactions or none at all. Dame Neville-Jones could have utterly skewered Woodward and exposed his hypocrisy on the McBride smears but never even mentioned it, in fact instead agreed that the Sun had been very naughty. They are lazy and might win the election because New Labour lose it but the Leftist behemoth blighting this country will remain intact to cause them untold obstruction and harm in government.

Dame Neville-Jones plea that Woodward's accusations about immigration were ridiculous from a party which has been in government for 12 years were loudly applauded by the audience but were too quietly stated and should have been hammered home and hammered home at every opportunity.

Nicholas

"Oh, and another thing" - at the risk of over staying my welcome and without taking off my dirty raincoat.

New Labour constantly do conniving and manipulation - it is in their DNA (to be retained indefinitely) - but when the Tories attempt it (usually a poor imitation) New Labour indignantly and pompously call them out for "playing politics" or "talking down" this or that - or their latest team indoctrinated catchphrase - "in a race to the bottom". The arrant hypocrisy is staggering but even more so the fact that they never seem to get called out for it by the supine, suborned and usually somewhere else following a story no-one is interested in media hacks.

Frank P

Paul B

Have seen it happen often in the gym during frenzied sparring sessions, but in professional tournaments it rarely happens because almost all of the bouts are fixed anyway and that scenario is unlikely to be in the script. But now that you've put the idea into the bookies' heads you may see more such episodes. :-)

Coincidentally the video clip is quite a good metaphor for the QT programme Nicholas cites above.

Augustus

Anyone interested in why Boris is closing down Westminster Bridge on sunny afternoons because of a curious phenomenon? If so, go to Google and type in Westminster Bridge.

Didn't know Boris did PC.

Frank P

A great post from Gerard Vanderleun:

http://americandigest.org/mt-archives/enemies_foreign_domestic/if_a_us_president_had_jus.php

As someone who was born in the early thirties I find this picture both deeply chilling and deeply depressing.

It reminds me of the Famous Last Words list:

WTF was THAT?? (Mayor of Hiroshima)

And this picture was taken in mid November, too, when Obama should have been visiting war graves near the River Kwai. Basta!

Derek

Study Break for General Zod http://frontpagemag.com/2009/11/13/the-million-muslim-march-by-jamie-glazov/

Augustus

Re. My above post. It should read, go to Google and type in 'Westminster Bridge closed by mayor on sunny afternoons'. Then click: Westminster Bridge London. There the phenomenon is pictured in all its (their) glory(s).

Frank P

Hannan's the Man!

Here he makes a great case for a political divorce between the UK and the EU. A breath of fresh air! I particularly like his phrase "If we were to leave the EU we would cease to become a complaining tenant and become a good neighbour. His statistics about our trade with Europe in relation to our trade with other countries; and even more significant the trade between the other countries of Europe that have not joined the EU and the EU are eye openers:

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/danielhannan/100016829/the-case-for-leaving-the-eu/

Why is this not being discussed by the editorial staff of this magazine? Perhaps Fraser could stop justifying his relationships with the Lefties and start defining his relationship with Hannan?

EC

Frank P,

Ah So!

I had barely come to terms with Barack's Obasement to Saudi King Abdullah:

http://www.usnews.com/dbimages/master/10457/FE_DA_090409publicopinion.jpg

... and now he's at it again!

What the hell will he do if/when he ever meets Ahmajinedad!

I dunno about a chill, but there is a nasty nip in the air tonight.

EC

Frank P,

Spare a thought for this unlucky sod:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/7963581.stm

Obama should have bowed to him!

Strontium 90 anyone?

Anne Wotana Kaye

Earth has not anything to show more fair:
Dull would he be of soul who could pass by
A sight so touching in its majesty:
--------------------------------------------
Why are even the nicest politicians such philistines? :=}

Frank P

EC

I doubt any of those who worked on the Kwai bridge made it to 93. I met enough of those returning with their parchment skins and emaciated bodies, to ever feel any sympathy for any Jap. That any American president should honour the Nippon president as Obama has just done still sticks in the craw. Today's generation has no concept of what 1939 - 1945 meant to the people of this country who lived through it. I make no apologies for my detestation of those who seek to appease current sworn enemies.

Until there is some sign that Iran and its jihadist outposts are prepared to abandon their quest for a nuclear weapon and cease to supply jihadists around the world with arms and money to attack the West, then the Western Governments should intern all Muslims until the War on Terror is successfully prosecuted and ended by the enemy suing for peace, just as happened with Japanese and German ex-pats here and in the US during WWII. We are sleep walking into a very scary world, just as we were in the 1930s until a few people with cojones decided to act. I doubt the same resolve still exists. The underbelly of Britain was once sinewy and toughened from hard work and deprivation. Now it's just flab and shit from plenty, idleness and cowardice.

EC

Frank P,

You misunderstand me, again. I was not trying to elicit sympathy. Nuclear weapons have only ever, to date, been dropped twice and that guy happened to be in both locations when they were. How unlucky is that? I mean, he must have asked himself WTF was going on!

Surely following his recent misguided and foolish displays Precedent Obama will now have to bow, stoop or bend over to every HOS he meets?

Snowman

Jesus, Nicholas Verity & co, it took close to fifteen minutes to just flick through the stuff. You get no life, no sleep?

Frank P

Sorry EC, I did understand your irony, but took advantage of the opportunity to express once again my hatred for the WWII Japs. Remiss of me not to respond in sardonic mode, having already pressed that button with 'famous last words' quip. Cruel sods, ain't we? :-)

Frank P

EC

btw; Gerard Vanderleun has updated his bowing post, v. amusing:

http://americandigest.org/mt-archives/enemies_foreign_domestic/if_a_us_president_had_jus.php

EC

Following a reference to "kleptocracies" in a comment above I looked up the definition and Wiki also, helpfully, gave a list of the top ten most self-enriching leaders in recent years. (Sorry but Tony wasn't on it)

One notable ommision from the top ten list was Yasser Arafat. Good ole Yasser was in receipt of several billions of EU aid money and nobody knows where it went!

Of course the good ole European taxpayer had no say in the matter. The Germans have a wonderful old saying, "Work hard, pay your taxes and keep your mouth shut!" I think the phrase was originally coined by beligerant tax gathering monks, but it tells you everything you need to know about how the modern EU superstate will operate.

Maybe the definition of 'Peace Process' needs to be redefined in terms of the transfer of funds between bank accounts.

Unaudited accounts anyone?

Nicholas

"Jesus, Nicholas Verity & co, it took close to fifteen minutes to just flick through the stuff. You get no life, no sleep?"

Hard times when our country is occupied and our traditional values and beliefs suffocated by a hostile power. We work in the shadows, watching, waiting, but energised by the promise of liberation. It will come. We are on the cusp. The vile edifice of the left is about to crumble. The intimidation of silent taboos is no longer working and the whispering has started. Soon, hopefully it will be a giant voice bellowing in rage and deafening Westminister with its collective and unstoppable demand for justice, common sense, common law and freedom.

Until then the struggle continues and life, sleep are luxuries that cannot be afforded by men and women who love England.

This morning I wake up with The Monster still in No.10 and announcing that he is also going to apologise for the Australian Orphans because the Australian PM is going to. The Monster's apology is bigger than Kevin Rudd's, ya-boo. Just do it then you egotistical oaf! Your endless, daily tricks and gimmicks to retrieve some mythical shreds of popularity and approval are tiresome.

EC

"...nobody knows where it went!"

I have just received a phone call from 'a reliable source' informing me that it was a Paris bank account. Of course it was, silly me, I had forgotton. All these sleepless nights are obviously getting to me ;-))

Obviously any connection with the above and the location of the grieving widow at the time was surely a coincidence. It would be complete madness to think otherwise.

Nicholas

Anybody else think the Speccie is lurching even further to the left after d'Ancona's demise? Is it a trendy liberal celeb mag or concerned with serious politics and putting the case from the right of centre?

I spotted this in this week's magazine (Simon Hoggart):-

"My only anxiety is about what Armando Ianucci and the gang can come up with to skewer the Cameron lot from May next year. I hope they are working on it now."

What is that all about? Is Hoggart another Speccie lefty? Does he want another term of clunking East Germany? Leaving aside the feelings some of us may have about Cameron just now the spitefulness in that comment is breathtaking.

Verity

What Nicholas said.

EC - I wonder whether the "grieving widow" ever ran into Robert Mugabe's wife in Paris. Perhaps at the haute couture autumn shows, or the Bruno Magli showroom (I understand that Mrs Mugabe likes shoes; although I don't know how she can see hers over her stomach) or one of the more expensive jewellery shops. It would be nice if the girls got together for a chat over some mint tea.

Verity

"Leaving aside the feelings some of us may have about Cameron just now the spitefulness in that comment is breathtaking."

Well, I wouldn't call it "breathtaking", Nicholas. I mean, I thought, on the spite scale, it was pretty pedestrian, to tell you the truth. I like my spite to be dripping with toxins. This was so-so.

Nicholas

Verity: subjective description - you are probably in better shape than I and more resilient to such assaults on one's sensibilities. The breathtaking bit must have come from too much gulping of hot tea and crunching of crisp toast as I was reading it.

But I take your point. This wretched system does not allow editing of posts in the same way it does not allow review of drafts. Therefore please consider it to read "mildly surprising".

Taipei Exile

Front page of at least two of the dailies today. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/6577658/Night-Stalker-serial-sex-attack-suspect-set-to-be-charged.html

If as the article says, they always suspected the suspect to be black then surely this wins a prize for the worst e-fit of all time.